A very blank wall

I was asked to create a graphic that reflected the values of the school. The first, and very tricky task, was to work out how to paint my design in a very tight space.

The wall in question was painted bright white to create ultimate contrast when the colour was added.

A useful tool

After a bit of thinking I realised that I could take my digital design and project it onto the wall. Positioning my laptop on the school projector stand would allow me to draw the many words that would have to be painted. The issue was that the wall in question was along a corridor so I could only get my image to little bigger than a poster. My solution was to take all the gear outside and project the image through the window. Luckily it was a beautiful day. It took a lot of fiddling to get the image straight but amazingly it worked!

Drawing out the design

Once projected I knew that I had to get all the drawing completed in one session as it would have been impossible to set it up again in the same position. I made sure my trusty pencil was really sharp and I got drawing. It took a few hours but I got it done.

The drawings looked a bit messy but I knew that the paint would cover it so didn't worry too much.

Painting is fun!

Unlike most decorating jobs that get tedious very quickly, I had three beautiful shades of green and one bright blue to play with. After doing some reading on what others had done I decided to use Dulux Trade paint which is high quality, washable emulsion. It was well worth it as it is excellent paint. My friend Rebecca, who is also an illustrator helped me out and was a real expert at painting the finer elements of the design. We got the leaves done pretty quickly but the words took some patience.

Each element of the mural took two to three coats over several visits but it was well worth the effort.

The final mural

Below is the final artwork which has a really graphic and fun feel to it.

Close up pic

Ooooh look at that lovely paint texture!

Happy pictures

here's a shot of me once the mural was completed. The school were really pleased with the artwork and it will hopefully give many kids a lot of pleasure for years to come.